in

Stunning Historical Photos of Toronto Streets from the 1930s

In the 1930s, the Great Depression reversed the employment trend, leaving approximately one-fourth of the Toronto population unemployed and causing severe financial problems. The capital debt payments couldn’t be met, and expenditures on public services – like sewage and piped water supply – had to be postponed. However, prosperity returned with the Second World War. Demand for war supplies and soldiers soon changed the city’s economic and employment picture.

Toronto became a major military center during World War II. War industries such as shipbuilding, plane construction, and weapons production flourished. Additionally, factories supported the war effort by hosting Victory Bond rallies, providing victory gardens, and hosting morale-building events such as dances, celebrity visits, and Miss War Worker contests.

Toronto deserved its reputation as a conservative city during the 1930s. Although the city had many beautiful churches, its nickname, “Toronto the Good,” had more to do with legislation against fun than with religion. It was, after all, in 1912 that tobogganing was prohibited on Sundays. During a heat wave in 1936, 24 men were arrested for exposing their chests on the city’s beaches! At the time, bathing suits had to cover men from neck to knee. Cocktail lounges were approved in 1947, but Sunday sports weren’t legalized until 1950.

#2 Eglinton Avenue West and Lascelles Boulevard. View is looking south-east, 1936

#3 3360 Yonge Street, west side, north of St. Germain Avenue. View is looking north-west, 1936

#5 Yonge Street, north of Frichot Avenue looking south-west, 1936

#6 Yonge Street and Jackes Avenue looking southeast, 1936

#9 Blessed Sacrement RC Church. Yonge and Cheritan, 1936

#10 Hope Gospel Church, Yonge Street, west side, between Imperial Street and Glebe Road, 1936

#11 Yonge Street and St. Germain Avenue looking north-west, 1937

#14 C.N.R. bridge – West of Lansdowne looking northeast, 1936

#15 Canadian Pacific Railway Yard – Bloor Street, 1936

#16 Gerrard & Munro looking east towards Broadview, 1936

#18 Yonge Street, at Church Street looking south to the Morrissey Hotel, 1936

#20 Yonge between Soudan and Eglinton. Caulfied’s at 2187-89, 1937

#21 Dundas & St. Johns looking east towards Clendenan, 1936

#23 Queen Street East and Hastings Avenue looking east, 1936

#24 Queen Street East and Rushbrooke Avenue looking south-west, 1936

#25 Beach Moving & Storage Company, 525 Kingston Rd., just west of Lee Ave., 1936.

#27 Three young boys are posing on the base of the board. The billboard is opposite the Ridley Arms, a Standard Hotel, at 2301 Danforth Avenue, 1936

#28 Yonge Street and Snowdon Avenue looking south-east, 1936

#29 Yonge Street and Keewatin Avenue looking south-east, 1936

#30 South-east corner of Yonge Street and Davisville Avenue, 1936

#31 North-west corner of Queen Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue, 1936

#32 Billboard adjacent to a building at 1003 Danforth Avenue, near Donlands Avenue. Two more billboards bearing the company name De Luxe Advertising Company Limited, one advertising Gorrie’s Chevrolet Oldsmobile and the other Purity Bread Limited, 1936

#33 View is looking northwest from ‘new’ Kingston Rd, 1936

#34 View looking west on Kingston Rd. to TTC Stop 13 at Sharpe St., Birchcliff Heights, Scarborough, 1936.

#37 Yonge & Davenport looking east to Church Street. 1936

#47 St. Clair West Station, looking E to Holy Rosary, 1937

#48 Mark Rowan Yonge Street on east side just north of Lawrence looking southeast, 1938

#50 Thanks Curtis Webster Acme Farmers Dairy 2359 Danforth Avenue looking west, 1937

#51 St. Clair Avenue West and Old Weston Road. View is looking north-east, 1937

#52 Lakeshore near Humber loop, looking eastward, 1937

#53 Service station adjacent to the Dominion Coal and Wood silos on Mount Pleasant Road, at Merton Street looking south, 1937

#54 Danforth and Broadview avenues. View is looking west across the Prince Edward Viaduct, 1937

#61 2001 Bloor Street West, looking west. That’s the roof of the Runnymede library in the centre background, 1937

#62 Looking east on Bloor towards South Kingsway. Big building in the distance still stands as Dogtopia of Bloor West Village, 1937

#65 Woodbine Avenue & Kingston Road facing east, 1937

#67 Magic Baking Powder – Electric sign, located atop a building at the south-west corner of College and Grace streets, 1937

#68 O’Keefe’s Dry Ginger Ale, Special Soda, Lime Rickey – College Street, 1937

#69 184 Bloor Street West. View is looking north-west, 1938

#70 College Street, at Dovercourt Road, south-east corner, 1938

#71 Davenport Road, at Dupont Street looking south, 1938

#72 The Consumers’ Gas Company service vehicle with trailer, 1938

#73 Yonge Street & Price Street looking south-east. Shell gas station is still there. The apartment at Rowanwood has lost its balconies. transit tracks veer off to the left probably a loop, 1938

#75 Chatsworth Manors Apartments under construction, Yonge Street & Chatsworth Drive looking northwest, 1938

#76 Dundas West looking east towards Yonge Street, 1938

#78 Looking northwest towards Coxwell & Danforth, 1938

#80 British-American Service Station – College Street, 1938

#81 British-American Service Station – College Street, 1938

#82 Robinette’s Red Indian Service Station – Southeast corner of Woodbine & Kingston Road, 1938

#86 Avenue Road & Oxton looking north. Imperial station is now Esso & Supertest is now Husky, 1937

#88 Canadian General Electric Company Limited plant, 1937

#89 Canadian General Electric Company Limited plant, 1937

#90 King Street East looking west towards the King Edward Hotel, 1939

#93 Gerrard Street East and Ontario Street. View is looking east, 1937

#94 Danforth Avenue and Linsmore Crescent. View is looking north-east, 1937

#95 Broadview and Browning avenues. View is looking south-east, 1937

#96 Spadina Road and Dupont Street. View is looking north-east, 1937

#97 Bay Street at Bloor Street West, south-east corner, 1937

#103 526 Danforth Avenue, at Ferrier Avenue, north-east corner, 1939

#107 Bloor Street West and Willard Avenue, north-west corner, 1939

#109 Bloor Street West, east of Dovercourt Road, 1939

#110 515 St. Clair Avenue West, at Bathurst Street, 1939

#116 Tony Solimine Lakeshore near Humber loop, looking eastward, 1937

#117 Riverside Drive & Bloor Street West looking southeast, 1937

#118 33 Front Street East. St. Lawrence Centre is now, 1937

#121 Davenport looking southeast towards Hillsboro, 1939

#123 Bloor Street West and Riverside Drive, Swansea, 1939

#127 Painted signage on the side of a silo, Macpherson Avenue, east of Davenport Road, 1939

#128 Signage on the side of a silo, Macpherson Avenue, east of Davenport Road. View is looking east, 1939

#129 Browns Bread on Eglinton Avenue West. Where on Eglinton, 1939

#131 145 Danforth Avenue. The Century Theatre can be seen at the left of the image adjacent to a Spick & Span Cleaners location, 1939

#133 Yonge Street, east side, at Ranleigh Avenue looking north, 1939

#134 Yonge Street south of Eglinton looking south, 1939

#135 Bloor Street West, south side, west of Windermere Avenue looking southwest, 1939

#138 Chaplin Cres. looking east towards Yonge & Davisville, 1939

#144 Eglinton Avenue West & Lascelles looking east, 1937

#145 View is looking south on Bathurst Street, across Eglinton Avenue West, 1937

#147 LCBO Liquor store, 424 Spadina Avenue, March 18, 1930.

#148 A customer emerges with their brown paper bag from the LCBO liquor store at Robina Ave. and St. Clair Ave. W., March 18, 1930.

#149 LCBO Liquor store, northeast corner of Dupont St. and Spadina Rd., March 18, 1930.

#150 LCBO Liquor store at Robina Ave. and St. Clair Ave. W., March 18, 1930.

#151 Looking east across James St. to Eaton’s Queen St. department store from the front lawn of Old City Hall, 1930

#152 A closeup view looking south of new billboards placed on top of and beside Superior Fish & Chips, 1887 Yonge Street, 1935

#153 Looking south east to The Superior Fried Fish Café, 1887 Yonge Street, 1930

#155 Simpson’s department store delivery truck, 1930s.

#156 Imperial Oil service station Davenport and Dupont, 1938

#162 Sunnyside Pool postcard, from ‘Recollections and Toronto Canada’, 1930

#168 Canada Life Building, University Ave., west side, north of Queen Street West, 1933

#169 Canada Life Building, University Ave., west side, north of Queen Street West, 1933.

Avatar of Aung Budhh

Written by Aung Budhh

Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *